


All Aboard The Etherian Party Bus

by LesbianbooRadley



Series: The Etherian Party Bus [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Cussing, F/F, Heavy Angst, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27170332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesbianbooRadley/pseuds/LesbianbooRadley
Summary: In the aftermath of Prime's downfall, the citizens of Etheria demand punishment for Catra and Hordak. They're resigned to their fate.  Adora and Entrapta are not.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Series: The Etherian Party Bus [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981591
Comments: 41
Kudos: 171





	All Aboard The Etherian Party Bus

**Author's Note:**

> So here's another installment. Hope y'all enjoy it. No smut in this one.

**One Hour Till Liftoff**

****

****

Catra was absolutely the least surprised being on Etheria when the trials had turned up two guilty verdicts and thus, two one way tickets to exile. Honestly it tracked with her life up until that point. It was very on brand. Still she wished she had had the foresight to do things differently in the two weeks between defeating Hoard Prime and the sudden decision to hold the trials, then maybe Adora wouldn't have been so blindsided by it all. And devastated and furious. 

Maybe she should have brought up the possibility of trials right after Prime, instead of giving them two weeks of willful ignorance. But then she'd of had to trade all of those amazing moments she'd had with Adora those two weeks and the thought killed her. She was going to need those memories to fuel her if she was going to survive Beast Island for four years.

Those two weeks might have been an illusion but gods, to date they were the best two weeks of her entire life hands down. It had been two weeks of parties and feasts during the day, and cuddling and gentle kisses at night before they passed out.

They didn't talk about everything that had happened in the last three years, too preoccupied with the thrill of victory and the newness of them, and Catra realized now that had been a fucking mistake. Now what if she never got that chance to make sure Adora understood just how sorry Catra was? To try and at least partly explain where her head had been? 

But she hadn’t and justice it turned out, moved swiftly on Etheria. 

They'd been at war for thirty years, longer than she'd been alive, and the thought of how their planet had run before Hordak had never crossed Catra's mind honestly. It turned out an Etheria not under the threat of war, was a pretty damn efficient place. 

Each city/town/village was more or less self governing, with the mayor's representing their people's wishes on a federal level. That federal level was the Princesses and at the top of that hierarchy was the Queen, Glimmer. 

Two days after Adora k.o.ed Prime, Hordak had signed an unconditional surrender, bringing Etheria out of its wartime government and back to normal. Things had slid into place fast. In between the celebrations there had been daily meetings amongst the Princess Alliance to begin planning the next steps. Catra had more than willingly stayed out of them, content at the time to just relax and wait for Adora to return to their room.

Adora had been riding that victory high non-stop. Every other word out of her mouth had just been utter excitement over the proposed reconstruction era they were entering. They had entire cities to rebuild, trade routes to fix, and an army of clones and hoard soldiers to integrate into the population. She'd just been so stoked to play her role in it all. Catra had happily listened to her rambling on about it. 

Every night on their balcony Adora would just go on about the plans for hours, a sweet smile stuck on the magicat's face the whole time. Adora could have been rambling on about crop rotation for all Catra cared, she would have hung on every word just to see Adora smiling like that. They fell into bed in the late hours of the night, usually followed by some gentle shy kissing and whispered affections. Catra would lay curled up at the end of the bed for an hour longer, just watching the steady rise and fall of Adora's chest. 

After two weeks of planning and sending out updates to the cities and villages it was finally time for the first post-war Etherian assembly to discuss the restoration of Etheria. After their own meeting in Thaymor, all of the mayors would be pouring into Brightmoon to meet with the Princess alliance. They would vote on the topics the Princesses had decided were issues that needed immediate attention, and then put forward their own proposals and demands. The mayor’s alliance had a 51% majority because they represented the people. 

Adora had been a ball of energy the morning of. She’d woken up hours before it started, before the first rays of daylight had even crept into their room, and her nervous energy had woken Catra up. Catra had groused about it, but only for a little while, happy to spend the morning with her girlfriend, going over the speech Adora had written to open the assembly. It was a damn good speech, all hope filled and courageous.

She’d accompanied the blonde to the large hall the meeting was to be held in and had taken post in a tree close by, content to doze with Meelog for the three hours Glimmer had supposed it would take to finish up. Afterwards, Adora and Catra had planned to take a couple of days to themselves and Catra was more than eager to begin them. 

But their couple of days were definitely not going to come to fruition. 

It was nearing the three hour point when Catra’s sensitive hearing keyed into the loud commotion coming from within the hall. She couldn’t make out anything besides a LOT of yelling, but her stomach sank instinctually. Something was going very wrong in that building. By now she had expected cheering, hell maybe even a rousing sing-a-long, but not what sounded like a very angry explosion of voices. 

The minutes ticked by slowly after that as she sat perched in her tree, eyes trained on the doors. And they kept ticking by. The meeting ran almost an hour and half late and with every second Catra’s tail became more and more agitated at her side. Other people had started to congregate on the lawn, their eyes drawn by the near constant outburst of raised voices from within the building. Catra had pulled herself further up into the tree, her instincts telling her to hide. The few people who had noticed her looked at her with barely contained distrust and hostility. Meelog had turned a light red shade next to her but stayed silent as well.

Finally after four and half hours the doors of the hall had burst open and Catra’s stomach had sunk so far she thought she’d lost it all together. Adora and Entrapta had seemingly kicked down the doors and ran out of the building, both clearly enraged by whatever had just happened. 

In a flash, a very irate Entrapta had carried herself away from the hall on the tips of her hair, moving faster than Catra had ever seen her move. In a blink she was gone. But Catra’s focus had never really been on her, no it was completely on Adora. 

Adora was fully transformed into She-ra and even the goddess-like glow around her couldn’t mask the fact that her face was bright red and she’d clearly been crying. Her sword was clutched so tightly in her hand Catra could see even from her tree, that her fingers were white. She looked enraged, like she’d been infected with the first one’s virus again. She was seething. The crowd that had been standing in front of the doors backed away with shocked gasps as Adora stalked through them, her eyes straight ahead. 

Catra and Meelog had only just made it down the tree and started running towards her when Swiftwind had swooped down out of nowhere and carried Adora out over the Whispering Woods. Catra had stood in complete shock, her mind racing over all the possibilities of what had just happened. She only had to wait a moment longer before Glimmer had run out the doors and looked frantically around just in time to see Adora disappearing over the horizon. The Queen had clearly been crying too. She had looked around at all of her subjects before spotting Catra and making a beeline for her. As soon as she’d reached her she’d transported her and Meelog away on the spot immediately. 

_“Fucking hell Sparkles, I told you to give me a heads up before you do that,” Catra ground out, falling to her knees as they appeared in the room she’d called home for two weeks now._

_Glimmer was silent, her face buried in her hands, and shoulders shaking lightly._

__

__

_“Sparkles, what happened in there?” Catra asked carefully as she collected herself up off of the floor and cautiously approached the upset Queen. Glimmer just shook harder. “Hey talk to me,” Catra said standing in front of the Queen and putting a clawed hand on her shoulder._

__

__

_Glimmer gave a deep shuddery exhale before letting her hands fall to her sides. Her eyes were red and when she spoke her voice sounded raw. “I’m so sorry Catra.”_

__

__

_“What? What is it?” Catra asked, stamping down her urge to just shake the woman in front of her until she got the information she wanted. She needed to go find Adora._

__

__

_Glimmer was clearly trying to collect herself and find the words she needed and Catra waited as patiently as she could. Glimmer pinched the ridge or her nose and looked at the floor. “We...we were almost done. We’d discussed all of the laid out proposals and topics. And then I asked the Mayor Select if there were any topics not on the docket that needed to be discussed and he...he…” Glimmer was choking on her own words and Catra could barely contain her irritation._

__

__

_“Just spit it out Sparkles,” Catra snapped, turning away from the Queen and staring at the bed she’d slept in with Adora now for two weeks. It smelled like them. She already knew where this was going and she couldn’t bear to face Glimmer._

__

__

_Glimmer exhaled slowly behind her and when she spoke again her voice was watery. “I’m so sorry Catra. The Mayors...the citizens…they're demanding punishment for you and Hordak. We...I tried to tell them that both of you had already pledged to help with the reconstruction efforts...but...but they are demanding a trial under the war crimes act. They have the majority vote. I’m so sorry.”_

__

__

_Catra felt like her world had narrowed to a single pinprick. It was just her, Glimmer, and the bedroom they stood in. Her mind was racing. Finally after all this time she had Adora, and now it was all going to end here. Evenly, sounding eerily calm she asked, “so since I already know the verdict is guilty what will it be? Firing squad? An electrocution?” Meelog bristled next to her._

__

__

_Suddenly Glimmer was at her side spinning the near catonic magicat around to face her. “No! Absolutely not. There is is no death penalty in Etheria and as long as I’m Queen there never will,” she said shaking her head rapidly and squeezing Catra’s shoulders. Catra could see the “but” on the shimmering woman’s tongue though._

__

__

_“Okay, so no death,” Catra said looking down at the floor and then back up at Glimmer. “Then what.”_

__

__

_Glimmer looked away from her. “The sentence for war crimes is exile,” she said, her voice low._

__

__

_Catra sucked in a breath. It seemed a worse punishment to her. She’d already lived without Adora next to her for three long years, she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life away from her now. No definitely not now. And so she said as much. “I would rather be executed Sparkles.”_

__

__

_Glimmer’s eyes snapped to hers. “Don’t say that!”_

__

__

_“It’s true,” Catra snapped, turning away and walking towards the bed. “I can’t...no I don’t want to live the rest of my life without her.”_

__

__

_“It won’t be the rest of your life,” Glimmer said frantically, forcefully turning Catra to look at her again. “I’m the Queen of Etheria and it is my right to hand down the sentence as I see fit and I absolutely intend to pass down the minimum.” Her voice was firm now, unwavering._

__

__

_"Which is?" Catra asked, bracing herself._

__

__

_“Four years. Four years and then your debt is considered paid,” Glimmer said squeezing her shoulders tightly._

__

__

_Catra sucked in a deep breath. That changed things. She could do four years. Already her mind was racing. She knew the only three places outside of the seven kingdoms that she could go to were Beast Island, The Crimson Waste, and whatever laid beyond that dessert hell hole. But what was the point? Would...could she expect Adora to just wait four years for her return, if Catra could even survive? "You'll have me," Meelog spoke in her mind. She reached a hand down and rested it on his head._

__

__

_Glimmer talking snapped her out of her thoughts. “She fought for you...so hard. Her and Scorpia. They both tried to get themselves sentenced along with Entrapta. Adora...Adora...well I was afraid she was going to run the Mayor Select through with her sword...”_

__

__

_“Of course she did,” Catra scoffed, closing her eyes and sighing. Adora always had to be her hero. At least now Catra knew it was because Adora loved her._

__

__

_“They have immunity though...since they’re princesses,” Glimmer added lamely._

__

__

_Catra didn’t want to talk anymore. She wanted to scream and cry and be angry for herself and Adora. “Can you please leave?” She asked, her voice already starting to shake with unspent tears._

__

__

_Glimmer looked like she didn’t want to go at all but she nodded and left wordlessly. When the large door closed behind her, Catra let herself break down, wrapping herself around Meelog, and just sobbing._

Catra had cried for hours after that. She wasn’t crying for herself though, but for Adora. Adora who was so selfless and good and had had the misfortune of falling in love with Catra. The misfortune of ever meeting Catra. She wondered what the blonde’s life would be like without her. Probably a hell of a lot better she assumed. 

She was filled with rage and hatred for herself. This was all her fault. Every shitty moment in Adora’s life fell on her shoulders and the bad decisions she had made one after another. Of course a few acts of redemption in the last few minutes of the game weren’t enough to fix everything. Catra felt so stupid to think that just because she’d saved Glimmer from Prime and helped the rebellion in the last few days that her ledger was squared with the citizens of Etheria. She’d waged war on them for three long years all because she wanted to hurt Adora. And now, she’d finally succeeded. It wasn’t fair to Adora at all. She’d nearly died to save Etheria and now she was being unintentionally punished. 

By the time Adora returned to their shared room late that night Catra was resigned to her punishment though. She’d go to Beast Island. There were more dangers in the Crimson Waste for her now thanks to her masterful take over a year ago, and who the hell knew what laid beyond it. She could handle Beast Island, maybe it would take her anyways and then Adora could finally be free from Catra’s shit. 

Adora had been...well frankly absolutely livid when Catra had said as much. She’d raged and screamed and cried, and then collapsed in Catra’s arms, begging her not to give up. Adora intended to fight the convictions, sure that she could convince the court that Catra deserved a chance at redemption instead. Catra had not had the heart to tell her what a losing battle it was so she had pushed down all of her feelings of resignation and self hatred and put on a show. It was the least she could do for Adora she figured. If Adora wanted her to be optimistic about an absolutely lost cause she would fake it for her sake, if only to spend the last days she might ever have with the blonde not fighting. 

When Adora had finally passed out from exhaustion that night, Catra had kissed her knuckles that were bruised from taking her anger out on trees. She held Adora all night long. It was the first time since they were little that she’d laid next to her in bed instead of at the end. So stupid. 

Things had moved ridiculously fast from there. Adora had been practically feral in her drive to win this. Catra had let her, just nodding along as the blonde prepared her argument and defense. 

Adora spent every waking moment pouring over tombs of official law books and manuscripts and Catra sat next to her acting like she was doing the same. But she wasn't. She was resigned to her fate. All she could do was watch Adora, study every detail of the taller woman's body, trying to commit every inch of her skin to memory. Gods what if she forgot what Adora looked like?

On the fourth day of Adora's obsessive research things went from bad to worse when Adora had jumped up from her chair suddenly and dragged Catra out of the library with no explanation. Adora had discovered that Glimmer, as Queen, technically had it within her power to just circumvent the entire trial by pardoning Catra. 

Glimmer refused to, with good reason. This is what the subjects of the kingdom had demanded, to just pardon Catra would be like telling each and every one of them the Queen's wishes were more important. Adora didn't see it that way, not at all. She'd been even more furious than before, screaming betrayal at her best friend. Catra had practically had to drag the raging, sobbing blonde out of the throne room. 

Catra had crept out of bed after Adora passed out that night and found Glimmer crying in front of the portrait of her mom on her knees. Catra had pushed aside her own extreme discomfort to pull the purple haired girl into a hug. It had broken her heart all over again to hear Glimmer apologize again and again for something she had no control over.

Catra had told her things would be okay after she was gone. Yes Adora was upset, but time would calm her down and she'd understand. Catra hoped beyond reason that was true, she couldn't be responsible for ruining their friendship too. It would be the worst of her crimes to date.

The trial had come quickly, just a week after the assembly and lasted for four days. Catra sat beside Hordak in a little box at the front of the room. The pair had not spoken, but Catra could tell by his expression that Hordak was in the same mental place she was, resigned to his fate, but willing to fake courage for Entrapta’s sake. When the testimonies started they’d moved closer together, as if the nearness of the other could protect them now. It was amazing considering the last time they’d really spent more than a few minutes together they had been trying to kill each other. He was also planning for Beast Island. Maybe they'd succeed in killing each other in the first week and get it over with.

It had been brutal. Hundreds of citizens poured in for those four days, listing all of the ways their lives had been torn asunder by the former Horde Lord and Force Commander. Catra had felt sick to her stomach the entire time as person after person listed all of her sins to the packed hall. The weight of them had been heavy on her chest for a while, but now, hearing them all laid out like this for all of the world to hear was almost more than she could bear. 

When it came time for her defense Adora had laid her heart out for Catra, going into detail about the abuse and conditioning they’d received at the hands of Shadow Weaver and their Horde upbringing. Scorpia had spoken on the abuse as well, along with Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio surprisingly. Glimmer and Bow had also taken the stand in her defense, recounting how she'd saved Glimmer and helped the rebellion in those last few days. Hordak also spoke on her behalf, listing the ways he was personally responsible for Catra’s life trajectory. When it came time for his defense she’d talked on his behalf too, having first hand knowledge of what it was to be controlled by Hoard Prime. 

She knew it was all hopeless but she did it anyways, if only to try and wipe some of that hopelessness from Adora’s face. 

Catra knew she deserved the guilty verdict and when it was read out after barely ten minutes of deliberation by the jury of random citizens, she’d simply nodded, and her and Hordak had been led out of the room by two guards. As the door closed behind her she could hear Adora and Entrapta both sobbing like wounded animals. 

She felt numb. Vaguely she was aware of the guards arguing slightly with another one outside the door, and then that one had wordlessly escorted her to Adora’s room. She had one hour to collect her belongings, of which she had none, and then leave. 

Catra had set motionlessly on the bed, staring off into nothingness as she tried to organize all the words in her head she wanted to say to Adora. She knew that the blonde would be there soon and she was determined to stay strong for her. She’d say all the things she could in an hour and then she’d tell Adora to move on, and if by some miracle she survived the exile maybe they could try again at this love they’d found. Meelog was prospectively curled around her body.

She hated herself in those moments more than she ever had in her entire life. Everything she had done, all the pain she had caused in their world, all to hurt Adora. And there was no one to blame but herself. She’d led an army and escalated a war all because she thought the girl she loved didn't love her back, didn’t want her, only to find out she was wrong. And now...now it all was just so pointless. A dissatisfying end to an absolute nightmare of a life. 

Catra was unaware of the passing of time as she sat there waiting for Adora. Meelog next to her silent as well. She expected the blonde to be upset, but she didn’t expect the door to their room to nearly come off its hinges when she stormed in. Adora had slammed it shut behind her with such force it practically shook the entire castle’s foundation. 

Adora was shaking with rage. 

“A-adora?” Catra asked, leaping to her feet and staring at the seething blonde. Meelog had jumped down and stood next to her.

Adora glanced up at her from where her eyes had been burning a hole in the ground. They were so red. Catra made to walk towards her to try and offer some kind of support, but Adora had stormed past her, disappearing into her closet for a moment and then reappearing with a large duffel bag. 

Catra’s eyes were as wide as saucers as she watched the blonde wordlessly begin violently shoving her own belongings into the bag, sweeping all of the mementos of the last three years of her life in Brightmoon into it. “W-what are you doing?” Catra asked, her voice uncharacteristically small. 

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Adora snapped out, and then answered her own question. “I’m packing my shit so we can get the fuck out of here.” 

Catra was nearly blown back by the fury in her girlfriend’s voice, let alone the uncharacteristic cursing. It was what hit her first before the meaning of the words slammed past her shock and immediately Catra was across the room trying snatch the bag out of her hands. “Are you fucking crazy?” She yelled loudly pulling on the straps. Hot tears stung at her eyes. “You can’t!”

“Don’t tell me what I can do!” Adora yelled back, her face a mask of anger and heartache. 

“Adora be reasonable, you can not do this,” Catra tried to argue, only for Adora to round on her and grab her by the shoulders, the mostly filled bag falling to the floor with a loud thud. 

“No! You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do Catra” Adora yelled so loud it made Catra flinch. Adora was nearly coming apart at the seams. Tears were streaming down her face and Catra could see all of the muscles in her body had clenched. Her eyes were glowing blue.

Her body was shaking so hard Catra was nearly knocked off of her feet with every breath the blonde took. Her eyes stared directly into Catra’s very soul as she ground out her next words. “I fought to end the war on this planet for three years. I faced every godsdamn thing this world threw at me because I wanted to do what’s right. And-” a sob “-and I nearly lost you Catra. I did lose you! I left you and I lost you and it was my fault. I left you because I just had to be the one to save the fucking world and I thought I would never be able to make it up to you. I thought I would never be able to fix it and then y-you came back to me” Her words were almost frantic now. Catra had never seen Adora this upset before. “You died in my arms and then I nearly died in yours and you told me you loved me and it saved me. I’ve loved you since before I knew what that word meant…And I was so fucking stupid! I honestly thought I could convince them to let you off but they don't care about justice! This was all about revenge. I am not letting this go now that I have it. I’m not letting you go. Not for four years or even four fucking days!” 

Catra could feel her resolve crumbling like she'd never had it in the first place and she hated herself all the more for it. Weakly she tried to protest again, “b-but the reconstruction.”

Adora cut her off, her fingers pressing almost possessively into Catra’s arms. When Adora spoke again her voice was drenched in desperation. “I don't care about it! Please Catra! Please! You asked me what I want and I want you...please don’t tell me that I can’t have it now. Please I- I couldn’t bear it. I won’t survive it. I don’t want to,” and at that Adora collapsed to her knees and buried her face in Catra’s stomach, her tears drenching Catra’s fur and burning against the skin beneath. 

All of Catra’s resolve collapsed at that and then she herself collapsed forwards, wrapping herself around Adora and grasping her tightly against her body. How the fuck could she say no to that? How could she tell Adora, the love of her life, the selfless idiot who never once put her own wants first, that she couldn’t have the first thing she’d ever asked for. She didn’t have the strength and honestly she didn’t want it. The idea that Adora would leave with her had never crossed her mind but now a greedy part of Catra that felt evil had latched immediately onto the notion like a vice. 

“Okay, okay,” Catra gasped out, furiously nodding her head and blinking back tears. “Yes we’ll go together.” 

Adora let out a loud sob and then her body lurched backwards. She pulled Catra down to her level and kissed her hard on the lips. It was a wet kiss, filled with desperation and love. Catra just kept mumbling the word “okay” against her lips, trying her damndest to not cry. 

A sudden knock at the door made Catra flinch. Times up. Adora stilled against her lips, her forehead falling against hers. “Let’s go,” she said, her voice thick and she kissed Catra one more time before standing back up and pulling Catra up with her. 

Catra felt like she was drowning as she numbly watched Adora gather the last of her things. Adora grabbed her hand and squeezed, “come on let’s go,” she murmured, tugging at Catra's hand as she heaved her duffel over her shoulder. Meelog padded along next to them.

Adora had managed to collect herself in the moments she gathered her things and her face was steely as she threw open the door and led Catra down the hall. Catra just followed her mutely. The guard who had led her to their room was gone, replaced by a pair that was looking at Adora and the large duffel bag thrown over her shoulder like she’d grown a second head. Adora’s hand was firm in her own and only tightened at their bewildered expressions. 

They swept through the castle towards the main entrance, around her Catra was vaguely aware of the whispering from the people they passed along the way. Her mind was racing, switching into planning mode. Beast Island was out, but maybe the Crimson Waste could work out. Adora would have to protect her though. Of course she fucking would.

Adora pulled her out the front door and Catra froze at the sight in front of her. Meelog grew on size. The massive crowd that had come to Brightmoon for the trial was congregated on the front lawn facing away from them. From their vantage point atop the stairs, Catra could see that the spaceship Adora had rescued her in was parked on the front lawn. She looked up to Adora quizzically. 

"It was Entrapta's ideal. She's been loading it up for the last week. At least one of us wasn't naive," Adora muttered darkly.

"We're going to space?" Catra asked carefully, her voice measured. 

"I don't want to be here anymore," was all Adora said before she was pulling her down the stairs and beginning to push their way through the crowd.

The blonde's face was stoic as they made their way through the people and Catra tried to adopt the same look. Inside she was reeling with emotion, feeling like she was going to throw up, start sobbing, or both. 

All around them the people were practically thrumming with hostile energy and Catra couldn't help but instinctively cling to Adora's side. The closer they got to the ship the more obvious it became that this was about to be an extremely messy scene. 

Up ahead she could hear a cacophony of raised angry voices. When they broke through the crowd the sight in front of her made Catra flinch, her claws digging into Adora's arm. If the blonde noticed she didn't react, only hoisting her duffel bag further up her muscular shoulders and tightening her protective grip on Catra's hand.

The members of the Princess Alliance were standing on a semi circle in front of Darla, and almost every one of them was yelling. In front of them Entrapta was yelling right back at them. It was the first time Catra had ever seen the Princess yell she realized. Behind her Hordak was standing with his back turned to the scene, staring up at the looming ship. 

It was Frosta who spotted her and Adora first. "You're leaving us too?" She practically screamed, her voice devastated. 

Everything went silent around them as the rest of the Alliance whipped around to face them. The absolutely deadly glares Mermista and Frosta were leveling at Catra made all the fur on her body stand at once. She wanted to run away and hide from it. Her tail wrapped reflexively around Adora's wrist. Next to her Meelog butted her with his head and then stepped out in front of her defensively. 

Adora didn't say anything. The blonde's jaw was set and her face was just a slate of anger as she pulled Catra forwards. 

Forefront in the group Glimmer stood in between Bow and her father. The Queen looked confused for just a moment and then a desperate kind of shock screwed up her features. "Adora no," she ground out.

"Move Glimmer," Adora ground back as they reached the wall of Alliance members. 

"Adora...let's just talk about this first," Bow spoke up, his hands placatingly raising in front of him.

"There's nothing to talk about," Adora snapped out harshly. 

"Have you lost your godsdamned mind Adora?" Glimmer yelled, lurching forwards and slamming her hands against Adora's chest. The blonde didn't budge a centimeter. "You can't just leave us! What are you thinking? We need you!"

Adora seethed, her face screwing up in fury. "I'm thinking that I don't have a fucking choice here Glimmer!" She yelled back angrily, her teeth clashing.

"What do you mean you don't have a choice?" The Queen raged. "This isn't even an option! You can't just fly off into space for four years because of this! I forbid it!"

"You can't seriously think I'm just going to stay here for four fucking years without her and just hope she survives! The people want them gone? Well they're going!" Adora yelled bitterly, angry tears welling up in her eyes and starting to stream down her face. 

Catra was absolutely trembling next to the blonde, trying with every ounce of her being to not show any emotion. Her eyes were burning with unspent tears and she was staring a hole into the ground in front of them. A constant low growl was coming from Meelog now.

"You were fine without her for the last three! Oh yeah that's because she was trying to kill you the entire time!" Mermista snapped suddenly, with more emotion than Catra had ever heard in her voice. 

Adora's grip on her hand became almost painfully tight. Catra felt like her heart was about to break out of her chest and her vision became cloudy with tears. Behind her and from most of the other Alliance members she could hear muttered agreements to the water Princess's statement. 

Adora fumed at the words. "What happened between Catra and I is none of your damn business Mermista. It's behind us now!" 

"Tell that to all the lives she ruined and is now continuing to ruin!" The water princess snapped back just as angrily. 

From the crowd, Catra could hear more agreements, as well as people calling out the various crimes she had committed against them personally. She glanced up. It was a mistake. Her eyes found Scorpia who was absolutely breaking down in Perfuma's arms. Choking back her own sob, Catra turned into Adora burying her face against the woman. Immediately Adora wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in. This just seemed to add fuel to the already out of control fire. 

"No! You don't get to be the victim here Catra!" Glimmer yelled, lurching forwards and trying to pull Catra away to face her. 

"Leave her alone!" Adora yelled, pulling Catra out of Glimmer's grasp.

"She doesn't get to cry over this Adora! This is all her fault!" Glimmer argued back. Catra audibly sobbed at this. It was so fucking true to felt like a knife jabbing into her heart. "This...this was your plan all along wasn't it? Answer me!" The Queen practically screamed. 

"She had nothing to do with it!" Adora tried to argue back, but it fell on deaf ears. 

Glimmer was roiling with rage, her face bright red with anger. "I can't believe how selfish you are Catra! Was almost ending the world not good enough for you? First you had to take my mother away from us and now you're taking our hero! We should have left you on Prime's ship!"

There were a few gasps. Both Bow and Perfuma admonished Glimmer. But overall everyone agreed loudly to the statement. 

Catra couldn't take it anymore. It was all so much...too much in such a short amount of time. This was all her fault. She felt like she'd been dunked under water. Adora was screaming something at her best friend now and it felt like the entire planet was glaring at her murderously. She felt like she was being ripped apart at the seams. Catra's legs went out from under her and she collapsed into Adora's body as she began sobbing in earnest. Around her she felt Adora hum with magic and then the woman was growing, transforming on the spot into She-ra. Strong arms slipped under her backside and picked her up. Catra clung to her for her life, her claws sinking into the warrior's back as she wrapped around her. 

Adora forcefully pushed her way through the alliance members now, deadly silent. And then Catra was aware of them walking up the ramp into Darla, Meelog at their side. The heavy footsteps beside them no doubt belonged to Hordak. She could hear Entrapta sobbing hard too and when she looked up through bleary eyes she saw the former Hoard leader was carrying the Princess aboard in his arms as well. Her long hair was trailing limply behind them on the ground. 

Behind them Catra could hear a volley of admonishments and pleas, but Adora just resolutely carried her aboard. When Catra looked at her face it was a steel mask of fury and pain. She was crying. 

Adora didn't look back as the steel ramp raised up behind them, but Catra did. She saw Scorpia down on her knees sobbing into her pincers, with Perfuma kneeling down next to her, trying to console her. Frosta was running away through the crowd. Mermista was just glaring up at them. The married couple, Spinderella and Netossa were holding onto each other, their bodies shaking. The last thing she saw before the doors closed was Glimmer collapsing to the ground, sobbing like a wounded animal with Bow and her father wrapped around her. 

Catra wondered if devastation was the only thing she'd ever leave in her wake.


End file.
